Skip to content
Tut-Egypt.Tours
Street in Islamic Cairo with minarets and lanterns
Caïro en Gizeh

Islamitisch Caïro en Khan El Khalili

Duizend jaar moskeeën, poorten en markten, nog altijd bewoond.

Khan El Khalili
gesticht in 1382 door emir Djaharks el-Khalili
Al-Azhar
moskee 970, universiteit 972, de oudste die nog lesgeeft
Al-Muizz-straat
1 km, UNESCO Historisch Caïro, 's avonds autovrij
Citadel
Saladin 1176–1183; Mohammed Ali-moskee 1830–1848

Islamitisch Caïro is de Fatimidische, Mamlukse en Ottomaanse kern van de stad, een UNESCO-site rond de Al-Muizz-straat: de Al-Azhar-moskee (970), de complexen van Qalawun en Sultan Hassan, Bab Zuweila en de Fatimidische poorten, de Citadel van Saladin met de Mohammed Ali-moskee, en Khan El Khalili, de bazaar gesticht in 1382. Onze wandelingen bestrijken het in vier uur; de Caïro-dagen combineren het met de musea en Koptisch Caïro.

Het bezoek

Cairo was founded in 969 by the Fatimids as a walled palace city, and Al-Muizz Street was its main axis. Walk it today from Bab Zuweila in the south to Bab al-Futuh in the north and you pass the mosque of Al-Ghuri, the complex of Sultan Qalawun with its hospital and mausoleum (1285), the madrasa of Barquq, the sabil-kuttab fountains and the merchant's house of Bayt al-Suhaymi, most of them open to visit.

Khan El Khalili sits off the street's middle: a grid of specialised lanes for gold, copper, spices, lanterns, perfume oils and leather, with El Fishawy café at its heart. Above the old city on the Muqattam spur, the Citadel of Saladin and the alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali give the view over all of it to the pyramids.

At night the street is lit and pedestrian, the bazaar stays open late and the food lanes fill up. Our night tours and the street-food walk are built around that.

Tips van onze gidsen

  • Fridays 11:00–13:00 the mosques close for prayers; walk the bazaar then
  • Haggle with a smile; the guide knows the fair price
  • Al-Azhar Park on the hill has the best sunset view of the minarets

Beste tijd: Late middag tot in de avond, elk seizoen; ochtenden in de zomer.

Vragen

Yes, outside prayer times, with shoulders and knees covered and shoes off. Women receive a scarf at the door of Al-Azhar and the Muhammad Ali Mosque.
30.0475 N, 31.2622 EOpenen in Google Maps

Excursies naar Islamitisch Caïro